01 November 2004

Jeff Jarvis over at BuzzMachine, whose blog comments have been overflowing with bile of late, has a constructive suggestion: bloggers should take a pledge to behave in a civilized manner after the election.

After the election results are in, I promise to:

Support the President, even if I didn't vote for him.

Criticize the President, even if I did vote for him.

Uphold standards of civilized discourse in blogs and in media while pushing both to be better.

Unite as a nation, putting country over party, even as we work together to make America better.

Though Jeff and I are coming at this from different directions on the political axis, I think this is a fine idea.

I have a sinking feeling about the election tomorrow. The country is polarized, the election is statistically too close to call, and my gut tells me that we might have three, four, even five "Floridas" to contend with. In short, I fear that we will be ass-deep in lawyers and litigating for months, as the allegations of voter fraud, voter suppression, and general dirty tricks fly from all directions.